January 11. 2011

Dear Children,

We are traveling back from Albany tonight. We have two birthdays to celebrate this weekend in our family: Gregory turns four and Alina thirteen! Since we will be in Utah for the next week, we drove down to take Alina to dinner and have her open her birthday gift. I was wishing I could have her up here for her birthday so we could practice with one of her gifts, a decorating set. She is a good little baker and enjoys making cupcakes so she will have fun with this. She is having some friends spend the night on Friday and then on her birthday, she has a church basketball game. Her ward has a women’s basketball team, most of them Beehives. She said it is so much fun since most of the girls have never played basketball before. We haven’t heard any plans about Gregory’s birthday but did you see the picture of Bryson’s new hair cut? No curls; he looks like a little man!

It is always a delight to be with Alina. We went to Red Robin and she ordered a burger that she could hardly get her mouth around. She is taking half of it to school tomorrow for lunch. That is, if they have school . . . the BIG storm is supposed to come!!!

Big storm! We rushed back for an appointment I had with the florist to finalize pricing so I knew how much was left to create 18 low cost centerpieces (not using a florist for that many flowers!) and learned it was cancelled due to freezing rain. The florist lives minutes from my home. I was not happy. In fact I started to feel like I was going to lose it like George Banks in Father of the Bride. I had already cried much of the way down to Albany out of sheer frustration. Today, few people were coming through with the simplest tasks I have asked of them. No one seems to be on a deadline except me and everyone seems to think I should help them remember their assignments even when I have asked for so little help.

My George Banks moment came when I ran into Albertsons since the roads were NOT the treacherous obstacles that caused everyone to hole up. I just needed some frozen shrimp that was on sale this week and we are leaving town early Thursday morning; my tomorrow being packed with preparations to leave with additional deadlines due to being away for a week. I originally had only planned to be gone a few days. When I ran to the frozen section and found only one bag of shrimp for the BUY ONE GET ONE special I thought I would start crying right then and there. Luckily, I found some more in another freezer or I think I would have let out a blood cuddling scream; the one I have suppressed all day long.

The shrimp represents my frustrations over this silly diet (oh excuse me, lifestyle change) that I have been on since the week before Thanksgiving. I am getting sick of it! OK, so I wasn’t going to tell anyone because I am embarrassed that I am out of control enough to have succumbed to the desperation of one of those crazy diets that you pay a terrible price to eat unreal prepackaged, forever preserved, dehydrated, powdered substances in the form of chalky shakes, freeze dried soups and “delicious” bars of soy (Hey, maybe that is what is tipping me over with all those female hormones in the soy but, maybe that is an old wives tale. HA!). Today all I can say is yuck. Well, maybe it is not actually forever preserved food as I have tried some of a friend’s old food to try and save a buck or two since Dad hasn’t worked since Thanksgiving. It was hard for me to get used to the taste of eating preserved food and then I introduced myself to the added pleasantry of eating old preserved food. Maybe that is why I am “slightly” cranky right now. Anyway, to look on the bright side of things, I am losing a lot of weight. I wonder how much my mind weighs since I am certainly losing that!

Well, there you have it: My update for the week so I may leave for Utah with a clean slate on the family newsletter home front.

I forgot to mention that Morty was in Phoenix for the championship football game. He called to have me record KOIN TV since he is on it. How does he get on TV so often; hey, he should be home selling them!!!! I did see him on TV talking to me on his cell phone at that very moment. But when I get time, I need to rewind it to some point to see his more than one minute of fame, live from the Dick game. Too bad they had to lose such a disappointing loss.

I love you. Promise, next newsletter will be more upbeat! No pictures this time since we left our camera in Albany at the Red Robin. I hope someone is honest there and put it aside. Too bad as there were some cute ones of Alina! I am putting my body to rest for a better tomorrow. In the middle of it all is a funeral in Hillsboro for Lori Kygier’s husband. He was in his 30’s; diagnosed with brain cancer this year. Love, Mom

January 4, 2011

“Because of the Savior’s birth, life and Atonement, there are no unsolvable problems. There are temporary tragedies and difficulties, of course, but they need not be permanent or unconquerable. Can you imagine anyone having a problem that God cannot solve? . . .

The Atonement is the vehicle to solve life’s major problems. With the Atonement, God puts us in the driver’s seat of our divine destiny, provided we follow His will.” Elder Tad R. Callister December Ensign

Dear Children,

What a Christmas season this has been. With baby Jack’s passing, the birth and subsequent life and Atonement of Jesus Christ held so much more meaning this year. While I ache for the sorrow and emptiness felt by everyone in the missed opportunity to hold and raise that darling baby boy, I love the knowledge of Heidi and Bill’s temple sealing to know that this little boy is part of our family forever. Such a perfect baby boy lay in the miniature little casket, it seemed to me he only needed to open his eyes.

Dad and I felt so lucky to be able to join with the Brady family and many other Payne and Bitter family members at John Robert’s graveside in Provo. Morty also traveled to Utah with us. Thank you Katie for the flight privilege! She had hoped to go but couldn’t get all of her shift covered. It was a perfect day. Dad gave the family prayers and Heidi shared her feelings about Jack being such a gift to their family. Bill dedicated the grave. It was a very sacred experience.

Early in the week our holiday celebrations included time in Seaside with the family that was here early for Christmas. The trip was strategically placed in between holiday Trailblazer games. We tried our hand at crabbing off of the bridge but had no luck. Dad and I will have to practice our crabbing skills by going to the coast more often. We played a ton of games and ate equally that much food. Grandma and Katie joined us for the first night but Katie had a heavy work schedule with holiday travel so they returned early.

We all gathered back in Beaverton in time for Christmas Eve day and planned an early evening for Bryson and Gregory. We added shrimp cocktail to our traditional clam chowder and spinach salad dinner which I think we should keep each year. Adrianne added the most delicious smelling homemade rolls which is another keeper if we get to have her for Christmas next year! Gregory was so cute to leave cookies for Santa by our fireplace. And then, surprise, we found some time for more game playing before we headed to bed so Santa could visit.

Aaron came in late Christmas Eve so Katie brought him home from the airport and guess what; they opened their Christmas Eve gift also. Morty and Aubrey were campaigning to open all the gifts so Katie wouldn’t have to miss it! Luckily for all of us purists, Katie reminded us that it was not Christmas yet! Katie had a 12 hour day on Christmas so we got up earlier than we normally would have so she could see what Santa brought her, eat breakfast with us and then open up her other gifts. The rest of our day was fairly relaxed and our gift opening lasted surprisingly quite a while. It was a fun filled but also relaxing day.

The rest of the holidays were spent playing lots of games and doing a lot of eating. With the food carts getting so popular in Portland, most everyone wanted to try several of them and there was also a stop at VooDoo Doughnuts of course to be reminded of the famous motto of our fair city, “Keep Portland Weird”! I preferred the stop during the holidays for warm doughnut holes at Sesame Doughnuts!

Except for not getting to the Encore fireside, I think we did just about everything we had hoped over the holiday. Christina Brandt held a benefit concert for Risa Whitaker. The doctors have turned Risa over to an organization that helps families prepare for death while Risa has been trying some alternative medicines and feelings some strength, having better days. The concert was fabulous. Christina is ready to go back to school as a continuing voice student after having her TMJ jaw surgery this fall so the concert was a validation that she is ready. It was beautiful. When she sang “Think of Me” from the Phantom my mind went to Nate as a very young boy. Phantom had come to town and we took some of the older children. In his school assignment to draw something for which he was thankful, he drew ears and labeled it: “I am thankful for ears to hear Phantom of the Opera.”

We were able to say goodbye to the Dougall’s over the holidays. They left this week for their mission in Washington D.C. Their son will live in the home while they are gone.

We played games on New Year’s Eve at the Stangers with the Waltons from Summerlake Ward. We took Grandma with us. She wasn’t going to go at the last minute since she didn’t want to stay late but we convinced her to go for an hour promising that we would take her home. We kept asking if she wanted to go home all night. She lasted until 3:00am! We broke our rule of not starting Progressive Rummy after 11:00pm!

So, I AM the reigning ping pong champion of 2011 of our ping pong table. Before we put up the ping pong table, Dad and I played a 2 out of 3 match for the championship. Hopefully, next item you all visit; the table will not be covered with projects so you may try your hand at beating me! HA!

Have a great week and DO YOUR BEST! I love you, Mom